Relatively little basic research has been recorded
since the development of the interfacially produced polyimide membranes and
composite reverse osmosis nanofiltration (RO/NF), perhaps 30 years ago.
New chemistries and processing techniques to provide more durable membranes
and enhanced processing methodologies are beginning to be reported.

Energy efficient water purification is one of the grand
challenges of this century, offering high impact opportunities to improve the
lives of billions of people around the world, facilitate economic development in
many sectors, and contribute to the manufacture of critical materials ranging
from pharmaceuticals to microelectronics. Polymer membranes are widely
used in water purification applications such as microfiltration, ultrafiltration,
nanofiltration, and reverse osmosis. The accelerating demand for purified
water for a wide range of applications is spurring increasing use of membranes
for these applications. A key issue in improving the performance of membranes is
the design, fabrication, and deployment of next generation membrane materials
for a variety of separations.

The purpose of this workshop is to bring together a broad range of stakeholders
in the area of membranes for water purification. One objective is to
establish a constructive dialogue between government, academic and industry
representatives so that a robust, shared vision of the opportunities and
challenges facing this field can be formulated. Another objective is to
bring together leading research scientists and engineers in this field from all
over the world to foster networking that can stimulate collaborative research to
solve the most challenging problems in the field today. The final
objective of this workshop is to provide a series of state-of-the-art
presentations outlining the status of membrane materials for various separations
critical for the purification of water and to set forth the challenges that must
be resolved to reduce next generation water purification systems based on
membranes to practice.